


To the Sea We Return

by Akiko_Natsuko



Series: Lyoray [3]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Falling In Love, Friendship/Love, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Memories, Post-Alvarez Teikoku | Alvarez Empire Arc, Remembering Ur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24892951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: Year after year, they had come to the edge of the sea on the anniversary of her death. Rarely the same place twice, because the ocean was vast, and they wanted to show Ur as much of it as they could. After that first visit, those nights were easier, lighter, as they shared memories and stories, and practised their magic with the waves lapping at their feet. A celebration of what she had given them, and the lives they were making for themselves, separate from her but shaped by what she had taught them.Gray and Lyon remember Ur, and share their blossoming relationship on the edge of the sea.
Relationships: Gray Fullbuster/Lyon Vastia
Series: Lyoray [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1252352
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35
Collections: I Take Pride in What I Am 2020





	To the Sea We Return

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that if you want to talk to me about my fics and writing, or anime/shows/games in general then you can now find me on discord [The Unholy Trinity](https://discord.gg/6sSddAWa5c).

Looking back neither of them could remember who had suggested the first trip to the sea on the anniversary of Ur’s death. It had started the year after they’d faced her as their Historia during the war of Alvarez after Lyon had finally felt as though he was moving forward. That had been the rawest visit, the two of them sat on the shore, staring out across the water, silent as they lost themselves in their memories. They’d barely spoken a word to one another at the time, but when the sun had risen, and their tears – falling without comment or judgement – had dried, they’d looked at one another, and promised to do this again.

And they had.

Year after year, they had come to the edge of the sea on the anniversary of her death. Rarely the same place twice, because the ocean was vast, and they wanted to show Ur as much of it as they could. After that first visit, those nights were easier, lighter, as they shared memories and stories, and practised their magic with the waves lapping at their feet. A celebration of what she had given them, and the lives they were making for themselves, separate from her but shaped by what she had taught them. As the night passed, and dawn approached, they would settle on the sand, letting the surf just reach them, and they would share what had happened to them in the last year, achievements and failures, silly anecdotes and hardships, and make resolutions for the next year, promising to tell her how it had gone the next time they visited.

It had been the fourth year when they had approached the sea, hand in hand for the first time. The easiness between them built up after the war, having finally given way to the promise of more than had been hovering unspoken for far too long. It had been Lyon, voice soft, who had spoken to the sea. Telling Ur about his clumsy confession after a rare job together had left them injured and holed up for several nights in a cave before they could make it to town, and how in the end Gray had got impatient and cut him off by kissing him to tell him that he felt the same. Gray had taken over them, telling Ur about their even more disastrous first date as their friends had been trying to ‘help’ them along, and had instead caused chaos, which had resulted in half the town encased in ice. As they’d spoken, the sea had curled around their feet, colder than it should have been and rising higher as though trying to reach them, and they’d known that Ur was listening then…and later, when a sudden wave had pushed Gray into Lyon’s arms, they knew she approved.

Another year passed, and then another and another, and they continued the tradition. Sometimes hand in hand, they would regale her with their developing relationship – like the year they’d finally bought a place between their guilds and started to spend more and more time there. Gray laughing as he told her about Lyon’s decorating disasters, which had seen them with rather large pink splodge on the hall wall when he had picked up the wrong paint, and how they had accidentally frozen the entire heating system when it had started playing up and turned the house far too hot for either of them. Lyon retaliating with the story of how Gray had put a hole in the living room ceiling after he and a visiting Natsu had got into an argument and had proceeded to try and convince Lyon that it had always been there.

Other times, they would sit apart on the shore – never too far – and grumble about one another, asking her advice, and letting the gentle rhythm of the sea soothe their nerves. On one occasion they had been a little more stubborn, and again the sea had risen around them, sudden waves pushing them together and stopping them from separating until they had broken down and talked through the argument that had lasted several days.

**

This year, Gray had requested that they return to Galuna to mark Ur’s death. Lyon had baulked for several reasons, and it had taken weeks of pleading, kisses and more than one argument to get him to agree to return to the place where he had realised his childhood dream had died with Ur, and where she had flowed out into the sea finally free of Deliora.

On the boat ride to the island, Gray was quiet and pensive, gazing out over the sea, and Lyon wondered if he was regretting it. Yet, every time he opened his mouth to ask or to suggest they go back to the mainland, he found the words drying up in his mouth. Perhaps it was the promise that he had made after facing the Historia, the desire to keep moving forward, and the knowledge that this was one of the things he still needed to move past. Or, maybe it was the fact that there was a hint of something softer around Gray’s lips as they drew closer, not quite a smile, but near enough.

Still, it felt all too soon before they were on the island, skirting the village for the time being much to Lyon’s relief although he had a feeling Gray would drag him there the next day. Instead, they made their way down to a secluded cove, and settled on the shore, with the waves at their feet.

Ur was there.

Lyon couldn’t explain it, as there was no wayward waves and no chill in the water, but he could feel her there as the waves lapped against them. Gray must’ve felt it too, because he straightened, mouth open as though to say something as he looked out across the water before he swallowed hard and ducked his head. “Gray…?”

“Lyon…” Gray cut him off, releasing his hand and pulling away, rising until he was kneeling in the waves. Lyon’s breath caught at the sight, eyes darting between the sea that seemed to have stilled and pulled back from them, to the smile on his partner’s face, to the small, velvet box that Gray had just retrieved from his trouser pocket with a muttered. “Told you I wouldn’t lose them this time Flamebrain…” Lyon’s lips quirked at that, knowing how many times both of them had lost their clothes during their lifetimes before his attention was caught by Gray taking a deep breath. “Lyon…” Gray seemed to falter for a moment, courage flagging, and a wave rose behind him and nudged him, before apparently deciding that wasn’t enough and rising even further so that it could splash down on his head, leaving him soaked and spluttering, and reducing to Lyon to helpless laughter.

Gray pouted at him, and at the sea stirring restlessly around them, before gathering himself. “Lyon, will you marry me?” He asked, managing to sound calm and focused, despite the fact that his hair was plastered to his face, his shirt completely see-through and clinging to his skin, while Lyon was still chuckling. The question brought his laughter to an end, but he was still smiling as he met Gray’s eyes, aware of the sea stirring around him now, the waves no doubt ready to push him if he hesitated too long.

He didn’t hesitate.

“Yes.” It was as easy as that, the moment a long time coming, as he closed the distance between them. Drawing Gray to him, and kissing him, tasting the salt on his lips as he deepened the kiss. Around them the sea rose soaking them both, the water surrounding them, and when he closed his eyes protectively, he could’ve have sworn that there were arms around them, hugging them both, laughter in the bubbling water. A fleeting moment, of past meeting present, reminding them of the times she had drawn them both into a hug at the same time, not wanting either to feel left out, and then the water was gone, and it was just them on the beach.

Lyon was the first to move, stepping back half a step, glancing out to sea and then back at the ring box that Gray was still holding. “So, a beach wedding…?” He asked softly, and before Gray could do more than open his mouth, the sea had surged around them again, forceful, demanding, and Gray laughed.

“I think that’s a yes.”


End file.
